Make the Most of Your LinkedIn Profile

If you are a young professional, you’ve undoubtedly heard about LinkedIn – a social network connecting professionals worldwide. Over the past 14 years, it has grown from an ambitious idea, created by the then-executive-vice-president of PayPal Reid Hoffman, to a network connecting over 450 million people looking to enhance their employment opportunities.

In today’s fiercely competitive economy a brilliantly crafted LinkedIn profile is a must-have for any professional. We’ve put together a list of useful tips on how to make the most of your LinkedIn profile, and, hopefully, help you get ahead in job-hunting.

Share relevant articles with your network

Sharing articles that are relevant to your circle and industry will let your connections know that you are engaged in what you do. This will show that you have expertise in your profession, and you’ll be more likely to be recommended a job in effect. Also, consider writing your own articles. Even though that is time-consuming, but the reward of showing knowledge and proficiency in your profession might be what gets you the next big job offer.

Analyse your audience

Use the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” section to look up who is interested in your profile. Using this tool you may find some valuable connections who are already interested in you and what you do.

Get involved in groups

According to LinkedIn statistics, users who are active members of any group get four times as many profile views as those who don’t use groups at all. It’s easy to see why using groups will help you get ahead on LinkedIn. Join a group that you are genuinely interested in, such as a local music promotion group or the one of your university or college alumni. You’ll see that putting yourself out there on LinkedIn will do wonders for you professionally.

Recommend and endorse your connections

A good recommendation could be the perfect thing to set yourself apart from all of your competition for new job openings. Recommending or endorsing your connections will not only help them get ahead, but it is likely that they will write something nice about you in return. Therefore, don’t shy away from making the first step and endorse your colleague.

Think out of the box

On LinkedIn you will write a lot of self-description. It is easy to say that you are motivated, passionate, creative, etc., but all of these are clichés that will hardly capture the attention of any employer because they are so common in every application. Instead, try to replace the plain adjectives with examples of your actual work and accomplishments. This will really show your future employer what you’re capable of.

We hope this article helps you succeed in our current ultra-competitive job market.

If you’ve found this article helpful, we would appreciate if you could comment, like or share it, perhaps even on your LinkedIn page.